New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-24

II. H. BANcRoFTs LAST voLuME.

Central America down TO the present t'nie' .n"'
completing one department OF bis great worh' lao
last instalment deals with the nineteenth ee"'e'
altogether. 1t is a record 10 confused anu oo"'e'
ing so OVERLOOKING with petty details OF pe.'y III
trouas so monotonously febrs and turbulent,
that 10 such impartial, accurate ana compete
annals could have been obtained by auy other pro-
cess than the one so steadily employed by the his
toran of the Pacific Coast. 1t is difficult to impart
interest to tie narrative. The five Central American
States have all through the century been Struggling
In the preliminary stages Of Matchmaking. Mum,
pered and INSTRUCTED by their past by 'neir i"o,"i
tendencies by their ecclesiastical systehs' DS 'ne
greed and dishonesty of their politicians, by the
Incidence of their masses, they have battied III
mist and darkness for liberties which receoea IKE
marsh fires and for ideas which never crystaHi1eu
into facts Never were people so easiIy onpeu.
Never were credulous races SO pitiessly exploited
by adventures. Never were the forms OF iree
government so lsmentably burlesqued. Never
have the extremes OF despOtism been so amazingly
coupled with the most advanced theories OF free-
dom.
II to the eye of the seeker after amusement the
history OF Central America presents only painful
md tedious middle "a sort of savage onrnlVal, In
which mummery and murder alternate-to the
student OF human development this chaotic con-
dition Of things offers many points Oh interest
Perhaps the most important and significant Is this'
That notwithstanding the perpetual fux and reiiux
of intrigue, revolution, civil war, dictatorship
conspiracy, treason and MISUNDERSTANDING
standing the seeming hopeiessness OF progress III
communities where nothing is stable. whore no ex-
perence appears to teach the necessity of order and
lawn the course Of the century covered by the
records marked and indubitable advance Is evil
dent In spite of discouragements and defeats, ana
seIshness and bad faith. and rapaclty and general
perverseness some power has so directed the gen.
eral movement that slow but sure Improvement
has been wrought In all the five States OF Central
America the situation in 1887 is much more proms-
ing than it was in 1901. In all there has been an
increase of order, development of resources,
growth Of wealth, rise in the standard OF OWL
ization. Out Of the turmoil and struggle this at
least has emerged, and in the circumstances 1t is
remarkable.
Yet it must be recognized that the chief I'M
pulses forward and upward have been i'm
parted, not by popular movements, but by the
strong will of few individuals. 1t may almost
DO said that the salvation of Central America
has been her tyrans and the statement Is less para
doxical than 1t appears at first sight For IN these
States experience has proved that only strong
Governments can persist. Whoever has attempted
to apply the rhetorical maxims OF Central Anieri-
can politics to the actual work of administration
Whoever has relied upon the prevalent love of free
dom as a support to free government has fallen
victim 10 the rapid growth of license which under
the sun of the tropics seems always to follow hard
upon the least relaxation of despotlsm Those
rulers only who have unhestatingly used all the
power in their hands at once to repress popular
exuberance and to enforce reforms, have succeeded
in retaining their seats and in establishing i'm
proved methods and practices. The case of Guate-
mala is in point. She never manifested vigorous
progressive capacity until Barros literally
dragoOned her into higher civilization. Under
his virile government, however, she developed ON
every side in material resources, in intellectual
growth in the stability of her institutions in the
sobriety of her politics. Barrios a tyrant aud
an usurper but he did more for his state nay for
all the five States. than they had been able to do
for themselves in half century of oeaseless con-
tention and had he lived there be little doubt
that he would have given them federation on
sound working plan, and thus abolished the most
formidable obstacle to their advance.
Mr. Bancroft has told the story so clearly and
we'll that the historical lessons to be derived fr ON
1t stand forth distinctly. Incident to Central
American progress is the narrative of the Walker
flibusterIng expedition which was as shameful
and iniquilous piece of piracy ever the Bucca-
neers perpetrated in the seventeenth century. All
that can be said for Walker and it is not much, il
that he was better fitted by the defects of his
moral character for participation i'll Central Ameri-
.can political Intrigue than for any other work, but
his nationality, unfortunately for him, made his
intrusion into the region where he breathed most
freely crime against the law of nations. His
raid, indeed, made but temporary impression
upon Ncars guam affairs The old quarrelng and con
sp1lng issuing of proclamations and counter proc
lama;ions went on after short time much rs usual.
The passion of the mixed races of Central America
for rhetorical expression indeed has always been in
the way of their progress They never seem to
realize the distinction between words and deeds.
At any time ford orator can carry them off their
feet and even when they have been exposed TO the
platoon fire of some tyrants troops good resonant
decree has usually suficed to console and often to
reconcile them. Tho fcklenoss and instability
Teutons are accustomed to ascribe to the Latin
races have seldom boon manifested more strikingy
OF persistently than In the perennial political
commissions of these unfortunate States No matter
how good O government might be 1t was never
secure never could depend upon the affections
aud sense Of the people; was always liable to
be overthrow by the first ranting cantiug
knavo of an adventurer who could get together q
handful of armed ragamuffins and discipline them
with foret1ste of plumber. Faithlessness on the
side Of the people. chronic conspiracy among the
politicians has been the dominant condition in
every Central American State ssince the Spanish
yoke fell OF Nor has there been much romance
about the matter. All the Tuning and speech max
ing strikes an American hysterical grotesque,
exaggerated. The duplicity. mendaclty. treachery,
which punctuate these politics render such an OBJ
inapt TO accept the professions of sincerity
which profusely profered. 1t is noisy, hypo-
critical INSCRIPTIONS greedy intrigue in short and
largely in the burlesque style Stit deserves study
as showing how some of our fellow-creatures play
their part and what sort of ambitions energize them
and by what methods they seek their ends If in
the end solid State grows out of all these conflicts
and trickeries there must be much purging done in
the first place, and it would also seem that many
al fAris nil hau 20 Ia Gal